How to Submit Chapter News

All chapters are encouraged to share their activities and other interesting events with other AMS members through the Local Chapter Affairs Newsletter as well as the "Chapter Channel" Section of the AMS Bulletin (BAMS).

Guidelines for submitting chapter news

The Chapter Channel section of BAMS

The Chapter Channel is a spread of photographs and explanatory captions. We want to see your local chapters in action!

What we’re looking for in photographs (300 dpi - JPG or TIF format):

Participation in science fairs, visits to television stations, working out in the field, just to name a few.

Posed group shots at relevant events.

Engaging images from speaker presentations (please obtain permission from the speaker to use the images as well as necessary information to explain what’s happening)

Please include as much information as possible for the caption.

Example:

Iowa State University Chapter members observe data collection from a wind profiler as well as prepare and launch a weather balloon during a visit from Bill Brown of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

We’re also still interested in articles about innovative ideas chapters have for outreach, for helping local students, for enhancing their local meteorological community, for promoting science, and making a better chapter in general. Depending on content, these can still work within 45 Beacon, the local chapter newsletter, and the AMS blog or Facebook page. Unusually interesting talks that hold potential for the BAMS Nowcast section can be discussed with the BAMS news editors.

The quarterly Local Chapter Affairs Newsletter

The Local Chapter Affairs Newsletter helps better connect local chapters to one another as well as to the national AMS. What we’re looking for:

More detailed write-ups (250 words or less) on a specific activity, event, or conference that your chapter found particularly successful along with a photo or two of the event (300 dpi - JPG or TIF format).

You may find that a photo submitted to the Newsletter may also be suitable for the Chapter Channel section of BAMS.

Example:

California University of Pennsylvania’s (Cal U) Seventh Annual StormFest was held on February 21st and 22nd. StormFest is an educational outreach event put on by the Southwest Pennsylvania Chapter of the AMS geared toward teaching children and their families about meteorology and earth sciences through hands-on activities. The event took place at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. On Friday, there were 14 activities that were staffed by around 30 volunteers from the chapter. Many children came to visit on school field trips. This year, StormFest took part in the Carnegie Science Center’s 21+ Night where adults were able to learn and enjoy the activities. Saturday, February 22nd was the main event featuring 34 activities with over 60 volunteers. The volunteers were students from the Southwest PA chapter, the Ohio University AMS chapter, the Cal U Geology club, the Cal U GIS club, the Cal U Parks and Rec. club, and Alpha Sigma Tau sorority. Saturday’s event featured Meteorologist Nick Walker from The Weather Channel who performed two “Weather Dude” shows. Nick also signed autographs and engaged with the public. The Pittsburgh National Weather Service volunteered on Saturday with an activity geared toward weather safety. Dennis Bowman, a broadcast meteorologist from Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV, had a table set up with a home-made tornado machine. Attendees both days had the chance to complete a certain number of activities to earn a free StormFest t-shirt. There were over 5,100 attendees between Friday and Saturday. This was another successful year for the event.

If a chapter has been awarded Chapter of the Year or Honor Roll status, icons indicating such will be included next to photos and/or write-ups for the calendar year following receipt of the award.

What not to send:

We will not accept the following submissions for publication in either the Chapter Channel Section of BAMS or the quarterly Local Chapter Affairs Newsletter:

Meeting minutes

Treasury Reports

A summary of several events/activities

Election results

Chapters should update election results online in their Chapter directory listing each year and other meeting minutes and reports should be circulated to your chapter membership and/or posted to your individual chapter Web site.

Photographs for the Chapter Channel section of BAMS and write-ups for the Local Chapter Affairs Newsletter should be emailed to chaptersinaction@ametsoc.org by the 15th of each month for possible publication.